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Trailer Tuesdays

Hollywood’s Mental Illness Problem

The much-maligned M. Night Shyamalan (say that five times fast) enjoyed a bit of a comeback year before last with The Visit, a flawed but rather entertaining found footage tale with more than one memorable moment. I dare say anyone who’s seen the movie will dry heave at the thought of a soiled diaper. However (spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched The Visit), instead of the more empathetic treatment of mental illness portrayed in The Sixth Sense, Mr. S relied on an old Hollywood trope of mental patient as monster to jack up the scares. This is a problematic depiction, as it not only regresses from his earlier message of mental patient as victim and maybe even someone with special insight, but reverts to a stigma that sufferers and caregivers alike still fight to overcome. Perhaps the long string of box office failures and unintentionally laughable stories had Mr. S grappling for a sure thing and he settled on a regressive trope that labels the mentally ill as “the other,” and something of which to be afraid.

It doesn’t look as if he’s changed his tune with his latest film, Split, featuring an unsettling James McAvoy, who plays a kidnapper with 24 distinct personalities. Controversy has already sprung up around the film with a Care2 Petition being circulated over the depiction of mental illness, as well as a depiction that reads as transphobic (McAvoy’s character has a female personality that appears in the trailer). This wouldn’t, of course, be the first time a man disguised as a woman was a source of terror – Norman Bates and Buffalo Bill for instance. But Norman Bates and Buffalo Bill were explicitly explained in their respective movies as not being true transgenders. It would seem to me that a similar approach is being tried here: McAvoy is not transgender per se, but rather has a distinct personality – one of many – that identifies as female. Not being a trans woman myself, I don’t automatically assume this depicts a true transgender, but I do concur this is a clumsy attempt. Furthermore, we are all aware that a mangled combination of nature and nurture can create twisted psyches that give us such monsters as Ed Gein and Jeffery Dahmer. But the condition suffered by McAvoy’s character is controversial and since this is Hollywood, it is not likely to be accurately represented in this film. After all: crazy = scary here.

With all that said, I do think that Shyamalan’s stigmatizing depiction is not deliberate so much as trope-heavy, and there are a lot of call-backs to other thrillers like Kiss the Girls and Session 9. The victims are being gathered together for something and they don’t know which version of McAvoy’s character they can trust. What do you think? Will you still see it anyway?

Trailer Tuesdays

Yippie-ki-yay, Mother…

 This Saturday, one of our local theaters will screen a midnight showing of Die Hard, to which I am going. In reference to our earlier Halloween posts, I do have one Christmas tradition that I have tried to maintain, though I couldn’t often find copies of Die Hard (yes, I know…time to go ahead and buy it): that was to have Die Hard going on the TV in the background while I baked Christmas cookies. I have no peer-reviewed data to present, but I am convinced that the cookies tasted better when I did that. If you’ve never managed to watch the film and wonder what all the hoopla is about, you can check out a few podcasts and trailers (like the one below) to whet your appetite.

I won’t be able to simultaneously bake cookies this time, obviously, but may find another way to honor the tradition:

I have a machine gun now…ho, ho, ho.

(and, yes, this is on Pinterest)

So whatever you do to celebrate this time of year, be it for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or Festivus, you do you and have a wonderful holiday season!

And watch Die Hard.

Trailer Tuesdays

Universal Reboots its Signature Monsters

First things first: many thanks to Erin for giving me a couple of weeks to focus on moving into a new home and hosting family for Thanksgiving in the new place. It was a slice. And here’s hoping everyone had a splendid Thanksgiving and is at least OK with hearing Christmas carols every time you walk in a department store until December 26th; the same four or five songs that have been rebooted 343,545,654,654,645 times plus Baby, it’s Cold Outside. Nothing prepares one for the holidays like the vague insinuation of date rape.

Since I’ve been away, I’ve learned of the reboot Universal plans to give its classic movie monster series from the 1930s and 1940s, beginning with The Mummy. This is not to be confused as a revisit of the Brendan Fraser films (which I personally liked and is closer plot-wise to the original 1932 film) but takes a more serious tone with Tom Cruise as its leading man. The titular mummy appears to be the objective of some military-backed mission that brings it to London via plane crash: a crash that Cruise’s character seems to not so much survive but return from the dead in a Highlander sort of way. So he’s either immortal, or superhuman, or under some spell from the mummy. The mummy is also reimagined in a way reminiscent of the Enchantress character from Suicide Squad. So the bandages are gone and she sports four irises and face tattoos.

At first, the trailer looks as if it is giving away too much of the movie, but the editing of scene choices and dialogue is so confusing that I’m at a loss to guess what the mummy’s deal is or how Cruise factors into it. He seems to have some preternatural understanding of it, given his reaction at the beginning, but it’s not clear how. Overall, this clearly has a more Marvel sensibility, with plane crashes, explosions, and grandiose showdowns with the mummy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the road Universal is taking to keep up with the other studios’ offerings of gods and monsters of the comic book variety. Seems a shame, really. A little elegance went a long way in the classic monster movies, but I guess the Apple generation needs its bells and whistles.

The Mummy is scheduled to come out June 9, 2017

Trailer Tuesdays

We Need a Hero

As Erin so succinctly put it last week, I’m reeling from our latest national election. It appears that we birthed a Cronenesque embodiment of all that was vulgar and spiteful in humanity and then gave it unprecedented military power. In the aftermath, our grief has us subjected to either schoolyard taunts of “snowflake” or “libtard” from giddy supporters or patronizing admonishments not to panic. Holding out hope is one thing. Trying to hold out hope despite the fact that we fucked up royally is the bigger challenge.

With that said, I think it most appropriate to highlight the full-length Wonder Woman trailer that gives us a little more detail regarding Diana’s origins as an Amazonian princess who encounters U.S. Intelligence Officer, Steve Trevor, after his plane crashes on the paradisiacal island of Themyscira. Since Wonder Woman was introduced in the modern universe of Batman V Superman, her origin movie is structured as a flashback that appears to be pretty faithful to her original introduction in the comics. While Diana and Steve ARE fighting Germans, they appear to be fighting them within the context of WWI (“The War to End All Wars”) rather than WWII as in the original 1941 comics. The iconography of Wonder Woman comes alive in Gal Godot as she appears stoic and brave, but idealistic as well. The Amazonian costumes and fight scenes show her and her sisters as forces to be reckoned with; they are fighters who charge into the fray without reserve and without fear.

She is a perfect heroine for our time. Created by psychologist William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman was modeled after the suffragettes he so admired and has stood the test of time as a true feminist icon: strong and fearless, but also virtuous and compassionate. Marston himself lived in a polyamorous relationship with two women and was an admirer of Margaret Sanger. Most recently, DC Comics have confirmed that Wonder Woman is also a bisexual character, thus in keeping with the sexual expression that was inherent in Marston’s original comics.  Now more than ever we need her spirit to stand for truth and justice to make sure that is the American way. Like Diana, we can stand before the brute force of cruelty and unbridled ambition and say: “It is our sacred duty to defend the world. And it is what I am going to do.”

Trailer Tuesdays

Superheroes…Superheroes Everywhere!

 The onslaught of superhero movies continues per studio schedules and there really are too many of them to cover in a timely manner. So, I’m just going to resort to cheekiness and try something a little different this week. The next release of Dr. Strange seems like pretty standard fare, with Benedict Cumberbatch sort of re-enacting a Dark Knight-looking storyline: broody superhuman suffers tragedy and discovers his powers through a mystical mentor. He even has a scruffy beard, the kind of which Christian Bale sported while wandering through the Himalayas. And this doesn’t even touch the white-washing scandal of Strange’s mentor being cast as the translucently white Tilda Swinton. Next, you have the new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer which promises more fun and silliness but appears to have a bit more action this time around (though I have to be honest, I don’t remember too much of the first one anymore). And, of course, there is the long-anticipated Wonder Woman trailer, which came out some time ago, but is one that I want to discuss soon in a separate post. Suffice to say for now that I’m very satisfied with the casting and am loving the fight scene that appears to do the character justice.

But none of these ever answer the really big question that burns at my very core…what DO the superheroes do once the battles are won and the enemies vanquished? What are their lives like after the credits roll? Thankfully, Thor and Bruce Banner have allowed the public in on the nature of their downtime. Sort of looks like any day in the life of your standard Millennial, except for the celestial hammer and meat cooked in the sun. Well actually, the meat is probably also standard. So long as the animal was grass-fed and died willingly.

Trailer Tuesdays

Because Everyone Else is Doing It

I am very much remiss in not alluding to this trailer in an earlier post, but I promise to make it up to you in the future.

Marvel is now chronicling the next chapter in the life of Wolverine…now that the X-Men have disappeared and the remaining ones are being hunted down by a gang of cyborgs. Approached by Charles Xavier, Wolverine, now living in exile as Logan, is tasked with ensuring the safety of a mutant girl, who may have more in common with him than he realizes. Now according to the comic Old Man Logan by Mark Miller, the story takes place in a dystopian land in which the supervillains have risen up and defeated all of their superhero counterparts. Wolverine’s exile results from his having been tricked into killing the X-Men himself. It’s hard to tell from the trailer how much of that will make it into this movie’s plot, but there’s still enough story arc to establish the stakes of a superhero past his prime and in danger of losing his powers who must rise up for yet another battle. Plus, it’s got Hugh Jackman and is scored to Johnny Cash – definitely a win-win.

Trailer Tuesdays

The Walking Dead Returns October 23

I know everyone is currently abuzz with the new John Wick 2 trailer, but it’s not coming out until next year, and I want to talk about The Walking Dead. Besides, after leaving my boyfriend to finish watching the first John Wick on his own, I can’t promise I’ll watch the second one, either (hurting a puppy is one of my triggers). So if you are interested in the new John Wick 2, you can watch the trailer here.

I was finally able to catch up on The Walking Dead this summer after a cross-country move interrupted my viewing of Season 6 during its air time. Season 6 ended, of course, with the infamous cliffhanger that has had internet nerds posting numerous videos on who could be the mystery victim of the series’ latest villain, the brutally sadistic Neagan. Though I’ve just now started reading the actual comics, I know who it’s supposed to be, but expect a twist after the show writers played with our expectations by having that character get into and out of the kind of cliffhanger-type scrapes that old TV shows used to employ with closing narration like: “Will our intrepid hero make it out alive? Join us next week…” No. I’m betting on it being another poor sap. I may yet subject you to my own little treatise on the show as a whole, but to keep this post focused, I’ll just stick to the topic at hand: the Season 7 trailer.

At this point in the series, our motley crew of zombie apocalypse survivors went on the offensive this time and got more than they bargained for with a band of lowlifes who call themselves The Saviors. The Saviors are led by the aforementioned Neagan, a much anticipated villain, who is clearly the alpha male of his pack and has enacted a literal take on the Old Testament rule of “eye for an eye.” In the comics, he’s drawn a bit like a caricature of a WWF wrestler, no-necked and bullet-headed. But the casting choice has Jeffery Dean Morgan playing up the character with a smiling menace. He’s hot…but scary as hell. Also adapted from the comics is Neagan’s weapon of choice, a baseball bat encircled with barbed wire that he calls Lucille. AMC has already released a sneak peek of the next season, but make sure you’re caught up and check out the trailer first. Then you can create your own conspiracy theory as to who had a date with Lucille. Also, there’s a tiger.

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